Food Security and Land Grabbing in Low-Income Countries of the Sub-Saharan Africa

Headnote

Abstract

The fight against hunger and poverty has long been at the heart of international policies in favour of Less Developed Countries. The first two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2030 Agenda strategy are just "No poverty" and "Zero Hunger". Notwithstanding the results achieved in the recent past, in the poorest and low-income Countries, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, lots of people continue to suffer from hunger and poverty. In these Countries, the perspective for economic growth and development of agricultural productivity, as currently measured, is not able to assure the elimination of poverty and hunger. These problems will probably tend to focus right in this area, where the maximum demographic increase is also forecast. Despite of the increase of agricultural productivity is paramount for food security, in the Poorest Countries it is, up to now, strictly linked to farm new lands. In the last years, in the Sub-Saharan Africa low income Countries, investments in new lands have been affected by Land Grabbing.

The aim of this paper is to verify whether and to what extent the Land Grabbing operations have affected both the variation of agricultural land and the development of agricultural activities for food security in the Countries concerned.

Keywords: food security; land grabbing; sustainable development goals; agricultural productivity.

1. Introduction

The many problems affecting the Least Developed Countries (LDC) usually have one sole cause: the poverty.

Since their institution, the primary objective of International Organizations working in favour of developing Countries, first of all Working Bank (WB), has been the fight against poverty.

Among the many consequences of poverty, problem concerning access to food and, consequently the breakdown of food security, is one of the most important. Although combating poverty has long been a primary goal of international policies, a strategy to tackle the issue of poverty, in its different dimensions, was launched only in 2000 with the adoption, by United Nations (UN), of the Millennium Development Goals (mDgs) (UN, 2000). It is not by chance that, among the eight MDGs, the fight against poverty and hunger are considered in the same goal: goal number 1 (Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger).

As is well known, in 2015, the time for implementing measures aimed at achieving the MDGs has ended. The subsequent adoption, by...